Elphaba always liked eating outdoors. It was a great way for her to clear her head. She was very good at compartmentalizing things in her brain, and didn't go into overflow very often, but when she did, it was disastrous. It got to the point where her fellow doctors forced her to take breaks for longer than she wanted, and she was now at a point where she did it on her own.
The outdoor alcove had a private section for the hospital staff, separate from the patients and families. The summer months were a great time for the doctors to get some extra Vitamin D. She sat at her usual round table under the large umbrella, shading her from the sun. She aimlessly scrolled through her phone, liking pics on Ozgram, and not even noticing when her best friend sat across from her.
"Are you gonna eat your poppy seed soup?" Glinda asked, breaking through her wall of thoughts.
Elphaba hummed. "Of course. It's the only thing here that's edible." She glanced up. "Why? What do you have?"
"Almond butter and honey sandwich."
She made a face. "I'll stick with the soup."
Glinda shrugged. "Don't make faces at my weird cravings. You think I wanna be eating this stuff? I have no control over this."
"You only have –"
"Seven more weeks, but I feel like I'm eighty-six weeks pregnant."
She did the math in her head. "That's twenty months."
Loud footsteps approached, and the two looked up to see one of the anesthesiologists hurrying over. They barely had time for a greeting before he plopped down next to them.
"What's wrong, Boq?" Glinda asked, placing a friendly hand on the Munchkin's shoulder.
"Crope's vitrectomy got rescheduled, so now I have to work a double shift."
"Woes of being a second-year resident," Elphaba sighed melodramatically.
"They have you working triples, Elphaba. Woes of being a third-year resident."
"I'm not the one complaining."
"Complaining? What are we complaining about?" Sarima asked, coming over and sliding in next to Boq, who begrudgingly moved over. "I wanna complain, too. Are we gossiping about the interns?"
"No," Elphaba frowned.
"Oh. Well now that I'm here, we can start gossiping about them. I'll go first. My Milla, my precious, sweet summer child, my darling Milla… is not gonna make it."
"What do you mean?" Boq asked.
"The girl is scared of everything. Doesn't wanna see a newborn, doesn't wanna hold a newborn, and she's forgotten that she's no longer dealing with dummies, but real mothers. And she gets so flustered every time she looks at a poom-poom. Like, girl, do you not know how the baby got there in the first place? What did you think it was, the stork? I haven't even subjected her to post-partum poom-pooms yet. I've been so nice. Where did I go wrong?"
"Who are we subjecting to post-partum poom-pooms?" a new voice interjected with an audible smile.
"Crope, get out of here," Boq groaned. "I don't wanna see you more than necessary."
"But we make the best team, Boqqy," Crope grinned.
"Never call me that ever again."
The attending surgeon sat.
"I mean, I need to get her used to it. She can't get so flustered and embarrassed. It makes everyone uncomfortable. Exposure is the key," Sarima continued. "I haven't been able to take her down to the NICU yet because I'm scared she's gonna get body-slammed by a NICU nurse."
"I'm losing my appetite," Elphaba groaned.
Glinda reached for her soup, but Elphaba pulled it out of her reach, eating a few spoonfuls to establish her point.
"How are your interns, Elphaba?" Crope asked.
"Still interning… and asking me questions they should know. It's like they didn't pay attention in med school."
Glinda bit back a giggle. "Elphie, it's only been three weeks."
"Feels like three years. Pfannee forgot how to start a central line, ShenShen accidentally switched patient files and told the wrong person they had cancer, and Shem whines when he doesn't get his way."
"What about Fiyero?"
"Dr. Tigulaar is… competent. He follows directions well enough, but he's like a computer you need to program every step into. I don't have time to breathe down his neck to ensure he's getting his work done." Her pager went off. "Speaking of work… I'll see you all later."
"Gimme the soup!" Glinda growled like a ravenous monster, grabbing the bowl and devouring the lukewarm liquid in a few seconds. She looked around at her colleagues, all staring at her with dropped jaws. "What? You try carrying around a six-and-a-half proud fetus, then we'll talk about appetite." She delicately dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin.
The pager beeped again and Elphaba ran off. She was being paged to Mynan Tigmis's room. When she got there, the young woman was violently convulsing in the bed. Elphaba could see the muscles contracting beneath her skin.
"She started seizing around a minute ago, Dr. Thropp," the nurse said, almost apologetically. "She was telling me about the skiing trip she took last year, and then she just -"
"How much Phenobarbital was she given?" Elphaba interrupted, jumping in.
"She's already at the max. If we give her any more, we'll risk sending her into a shock coma."
"Then we have to wait it out and hope it doesn't worsen. Don't restrain her," Elphaba said, gesturing for the nurse to step back from the shaking patient. "And I want to order an immediate CT scan and an MRI."
"CT's down. There was some type of overload they're trying to override. It should be up within the next hour."
"That might be too long. Then just the MRI for now. We need to figure out what's going on."
"Yes, Dr. Thropp. I'll page transport."
Slowly, Mynan's muscles relaxed, and she stopped seizing. Her breathing evened out, but she didn't open her eyes. Elphaba didn't realize how much her own shoulders had tensed until she relaxed with the young woman.
We're running out of time, Elphaba frowned, nervously wringing her hands and swiftly exiting the room.
Fiyero was exhausted by the end of his shift. He stumbled into the empty locker room and collapsed onto the bench, grateful to have some alone time. He spent a few extra minutes to himself before changing into his street clothes, grabbing his backpack, and heading out the door.
He sped-walked through the hospital, opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator to save time. He learned the hard way that once he clocked out, his shift was over, and lollygagging in the hospital would get him called in to do extra work. Extra work that he didn't have the brain capacity to not screw up at the moment.
He had his peripheral blinders on, paying attention to only what was directly in front of him. His brain had checked out, and he was making dinner plans, arguing with himself over chicken or salmon.
But he really should've been paying attention to where he was going. He was entering the lobby when he collided with another person.
A soft splash, followed by sputtering and coughing, pulled him back to the present. He looked down to see Elphaba on the ground by his feet, water from her water bottle spilling onto her shoes.
"Dr. Thropp! I… I'm so sorry," he apologized, offering her his hand.
The green woman ignored his help, grabbed her now-empty bottle, and pushed herself to her feet. She gave him a death glare before pushing past him, wiping her face with her sleeve as she hurried in the opposite direction.
Fiyero groaned, tiredly rubbing his face with his hands. The fact that she hadn't said anything to him scared him even more than when she was yelling at him. He booked it to the exit, now super mindful of everything around him, and managed to get to his car without another incident.
He wasn't looking forward to his shift the following day.
Elphaba rushed to her office and slammed the door behind her. She could feel the hives forming on her face and neck. They were painful and itchy, but she knew giving in to the sensation would make it worse. She grabbed her large tub of barrier cream from her desk and applied it to her face and neck. The cold, soothing cream gave her surface-level relief, and she quickly dry-swallowed a Benadryl pill.
"Elphie?" Glinda called, knocking on her door.
Elphaba held her breath. She really couldn't deal with Glinda right now.
"Elphie, I know you're still in there. Your light's still on."
Elphaba tiptoed over to the door and flipped the light switch off.
"Elphaba Melena Thropp!"
Sighing, she opened the door, hiding behind it.
"Elphie?" Glinda called, marching in and turning the lights back on. "Why are you sti- oh dear sweet Oz." Her jaw dropped when she saw her best friend's face. "What happened?"
"Dr. Tigulaar bumped into me, and my water spilled all over me." She sighed. "I have to stay here 'til this clears up, which means I'm going to be late for dinner at Nessa's, and she's gonna have a fit."
"Text her and say you'll be late. She'll understand."
"You don't know my sister. Oh wait, you do. You know exactly how she is, and you know she won't understand." Her cell phone rang, and she dug it from her back pocket. "Speak of the devil…" She groaned, but answered the call in her 'I swear I'm not exhausted' voice. "Hi, Nessie… yes, I'm still coming, but I might be late… Nes-… I'm not doing overtime today. Water splashed on my face, and I have to wa-… No, I'm not-… I'm fine, thanks for asking." She shot the blonde an 'I told you so' look. "Nessie, I don't want the entire hospital seeing me like this… No, I'm not gonna wear a veil. I'm waiting in my office until it clears up, then I'm coming over."
"Hi, Nessa!" Glinda called into the phone, giggling when Elphaba gently pushed her away.
Elphaba's jaw slacked as she listened to her sister, then grumpily handed the blonde her cell phone. "She wants to talk to you."
Glinda took the phone. "Hi Nessa… yes, she's telling the truth… I don't know." She glanced at her friend. "When did this happen?"
"Like… a few minutes ago."
She nodded and went back to the phone. "She'll be there within the hour… Nessa, your sister looks like a Lurlinemas decoration. I can't have her leaving here like that… I don't have a veil for her… okay, bye." The call ended and she returned the phone. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit late for that, don't you think?"
"Elphie, I –"
"I'm fine. It wasn't a lot of water. It was just so unexpected. Dr. Tigulaar needs to pay attention to where he's going. This is a hospital."
"Elphie, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Oh, Nessa wants you to get her some more of that tea she likes."
"Seriously?"
"… And could you get me some too, please?"
"I'm never letting you talk to my sister ever again."
…
"Well, you look no worse for wear. Still as green as ever."
"Hello, Nessa," Elphaba said, dropping the box of tea into her lap and squeezing past her wheelchair into the apartment.
The brunette looked put-upon that her sister entered before she gave her permission, but kept her mouth shut as she closed the door. "Are you feeling better?"
"You're low on pasta. Why didn't you ask me to pick some up? Or better yet, ask Glinda to ask me?"
"Fabala –"
"Nessa, if you really cared, you would've asked sooner." She set the water on the stove to boil and turned to her. "I'm fine. I'm always fine."
"Was it painful this time?"
"It's always painful, but it was nothing Benadryl didn't fix."
"Oh. You really should be more careful."
"My interns should watch where they're going."
Nessa refrained from more work talk until dinner was ready. The two sat in silence, until Elphaba inquired about her summer classes.
"They're great. I love my classes. And my internship at the Ozian Artifacts Museum starts next month."
Elphaba smiled into her glass. "I'm glad you're happy, Nessa."
"I didn't think I'd want to stay at Shiz for grad school, but I liked keeping my comfortable routine. Have you spoken to Father lately?"
Her shoulders slumped. "He hasn't called."
"And you haven't made any attempt to reach out?"
Why did Nessa always have to put a damper on their lighthearted conversations? "Nessa, is it impossible for us to have one dinner without any –"
"Answer my question."
"No. I haven't made any attempt to reach out. And why should I?"
"He's our father, Fabala."
"He hates me."
"'Hate' is a strong word."
"A word that perfectly fits this context. Nessa, you know how our relationship is. I've tried my entire life to make it what you have with him, and it hasn't worked. He's not going to suddenly start loving me after twenty-nine years of wishing I wasn't born."
"He doesn't think –"
"Wishing I wasn't born the way I was. Better?" She took the dirty dishes and put them in the sink. "Can we change the subject, please?"
Her sister's stubborn silence made her wary, but when Nessa didn't say another word about their father, she relaxed. "How's your job? Other than the clumsy interns spilling water on you?"
"Fine. The diagnostic team's doing well, Crope and Tibbett are still annoying, and –"
"I want to show you something!"
Elphaba sighed. She should've known she wouldn't be able to get through her story without Nessa interrupting her. She watched her sister go into her bedroom and return with a thin packet. She took the printout, but frowned when she read the top. "Nessa –"
"Just read it."
"Nessa, please stop asking me about things you've read on the internet."
"It's not a fake-news site!"
It was one of the moments where she legitimately wondered why she wanted to go into medicine. This wasn't the first time Nessa printed out a "medical" article she wanted her sister to read.
"I knew you were gonna be skeptical, so I did more research on my own." She pulled a folded-up pamphlet from her pocket and handed it to her.
She really didn't want to read anything else. She had seen enough. But she did it anyway. One look at the cover and she shot her sister a deadpanned look.
"Targeted tietactal therapy. It could help me," the brunette said softly.
"Okay, suppose this is a legitimate thing – and I'm not saying it is – there's still the fact that a legitimate medical journal hasn't reported on it."
"It's a clinical trial."
"It hasn't been proven that it has a high enough success rate."
"Elphaba, do you not hear what I'm telling you? I want to be part of the clinical trial."
Elphaba's jaw dropped, a noise vibrating in the back of her throat. "You're joking, right?"
"This would make it free, and if it works –"
"And if it doesn't –"
"Try to be optimistic."
"Ness–"
"It's not your decision to make, Elphaba. I'm not asking for your permission. I just wanted your opinion."
"You wanted my opinion, even if you've already made up your mind?"
"Medical advances are being made every day."
"Don't tell me what my field is doing." She skimmed through the printout. "Have you read the list of side effects? This says that you'll also have to take a steroid pill three times a day, along with the Targeted tietactal therapy. What's in it? How many milligrams? How will it react with your body?"
"There's a chance I could be given the placebo. But I get the therapy regardless."
"There's not enough information in this. Wha- stem cells? They're using stem cells?"
"That's to encourage muscle engagement. You don't want me to walk?" she asked, her voice soft and hurt.
"I don't want you to get hurt."
"But isn't a small chance better than no chance at all? I'm willing to take the risk, Elphaba."
"Okay." Her sister was twenty-five, living on her own, and perfectly capable of making her own decisions. She just wasn't convinced she was ready to live with the unforeseeable consequences.